Practical Farm Buildings: Plans and Suggestions

By Andrew Frederick Hunter

"Farm-building plans are as variable, almost, as is the individuality of those building and using them, and in making this selection, we have been guided by the practical merits of the designs, including only such as have proved their value by constant use on the farm. In poultry buildings it has been our special purpose to present plans which illustrate the marked tendency of recent years, which has been to open up the houses to sunshine and fresh air; a tendency which makes conditions more wholesome and promotes the good health and greater profitableness of the flocks."
This book contains illustrations and plans for the construction of various structures that would be found on the average farm.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Good Press
• Release date: Nov 5, 2021
• ISBN: 4066338063199

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Andrew Frederick Hunter

Practical Farm Buildings: Plans and Suggestions

Published by Good Press, 2022

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EAN 4066338063199

Table of Contents

A FOREWORD

1. POULTRY HOUSES

THE ADVANTAGE OF DOUBLE YARDS

A POULTRY HOUSE 240 FEET LONG

MR. DUSTON’S POULTRY HOUSES

THE STRAW-LOFT POULTRY HOUSE

THE CURTAIN-FRONT, CURTAINED-ROOSTING-CLOSET, POULTRY HOUSE

THE CONTINUOUS CURTAINED-FRONT SCRATCHING-SHED POULTRY HOUSE

THE ALL-OPEN-FRONT POULTRY HOUSE

2. BARNS, STABLES, ETC.

A COMPLETE DAIRY BARN

A STABLE FOR A SUBURBAN PLACE

A COMBINED HORSE AND COW STABLE

AN ATTRACTIVE DAIRY BARN

A SUBURBAN STABLE

A PLANK-FRAME BARN

A PRACTICAL SHEEP SHED

HOG HOUSES

Paroid Roofing

PAROID vs. OTHER READY ROOFINGS

Neponset Red Rope Roofing

NEPONSET WATERPROOF SHEATHING PAPER

Proslate Roofing and Siding

Florian Sound-Deadening Felt

A FOREWORD

Table of Contents

The very cordial appreciation which has met the first edition of our book, Practical Farm Buildings, makes it seem wise to prepare a larger and more complete book, and we hope you will find some of these plans and suggestions adapted for your own particular requirements.

Farm-building plans are as variable, almost, as is the individuality of those building and using them, and in making this selection, we have been guided by the practical merits of the designs, including only such as have proved their value by constant use on the farm. In poultry buildings it has been our special purpose to present plans which illustrate the marked tendency of recent years, which has been to open up the houses to sunshine and fresh air; a tendency which makes conditions more wholesome and promotes the good health and greater profitableness of the flocks.

Our editor, Mr. Hunter, wishes here to fully acknowledge his indebtedness to Bulletin No. 16 of the Cornell Reading Course for Farmers, entitled, Building Poultry Houses, also Farmers’ Bulletin No. 141 of the U. S. Department of Agriculture, entitled, Poultry Raising on the Farm, from which he borrows many of the hints and suggestions here given. Some of the poultry plans are taken, or adapted, from several poultry periodicals and Experiment Station Bulletins, and for their kind courtesy our thanks are tendered.

F. W. BIRD & SON.

East Walpole, Mass., U. S. A.

Practical Farm Buildings

1. POULTRY HOUSES

Table of Contents

Farmers’ Bulletin, No. 141, says: Poultry houses need not be elaborate in their fittings or expensive in construction. There are certain conditions, however, which should be insisted upon in all cases. In the first place, the house should be located upon soil which is well drained and dry. A gravelly knoll is best, but, failing this, the site should be raised by the use of the plow and scraper until there is a gentle slope in all directions sufficient to prevent any standing water even at the wettest times. A few inches of sand or gravel on the surface will be very useful in preventing the formation of mud. If the house is sheltered from the north and northwest winds by a group of evergreens, this will be a decided advantage in the colder parts of the country.

In Building Poultry Houses, Professor Rice says: "Poultry keeping is an exacting business. The four corner-stones upon which success rests are:

(1) Suitable buildings, properly located.

(2) The right foods, skilfully fed.

(3) Good fowls, carefully bred.

(4) Facility and ability to hatch and rear chickens."

Here we find that suitable buildings, properly located, is the first, hence most important, of the four corner-stones upon which success with poultry rests, and in giving the buildings this prominence we believe the professor is entirely right. No one thing does more to promote, or hinder, success with poultry than the buildings, hence the importance of a wise decision as to which of the many different patterns of houses is best adapted to your purpose.

Fig. 1

—A plan to secure dryness.

Select a dry location; if the ground is not naturally dry make it so by draining it. The first illustration gives a plan for making the interior of a poultry house absolutely dry, if the ground is fairly well drained. The foundation walls are built up about eighteen inches above the ground level; about twelve inches of this space is filled in with small stones or coarse gravel, and the balance with fine sand or dry, sandy loam; on the outside the ground is sloped up to the level of the bottom of the sills, and thus all surface water is effectually turned away.

Fig. 2

—The shape of the roof influences the cost.

Fig. 3

—Each of these houses require the same material.

In building a hen-house the working unit is the floor and air space required for each hen. A safe working rule is about five to six square feet of floor space, and about eight to ten cubic feet of air space for every fowl. Foundation walls should be built deep enough to prevent heaving by the frost and high enough to prevent surface water from entering. Where large stones are scarce sometimes grout walls may be made with gravel or small stones and cement; or the building may be set upon posts set well into the ground, in which case hemlock or hard wood boards should be securely nailed to bottom half of sills and extend down to natural ground level, to exclude rats.

Dampness is fatal to hens; build or drain so as to secure dryness. It is better by far to have a cold, dry house than a warm, damp house. The warmer the air the more moisture it will hold; when this moist air comes in contact with a cold surface condensation takes place, which is often converted into hoar-frost. The remedy is to remove the moisture as far as possible, by first cutting off the water from below which comes